T

rinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi resigned from the Rajya Sabha seat on Friday citing "violence in the state" as the reason. A new name added to the list of members who have recently resigned from the party. The announcement came when Mr Trivedi was participating in the Union Budget 2021 debate and said that he felt suffocated in the House as he couldn't do anything about the violence in West Bengal.

"The kind of violence that is happening in Bengal, it is a threat to democracy. I feel very strange sitting here. I think of what I should do. I think of Rabindranath Tagore. Obey party discipline? Of course, but I feel stifled. My soul is saying I sit here and say nothing, what is the point? I resign," Mr Trivedi said in the Rajya Sabha. He added that he is grateful to the party for sending him there and after sometime handed over his resignation to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.

The resignation came as a shock to the party members. "This is unfortunate. I am saddened. It is not good that he has resigned. I knew he was dissatisfied but I did not know he would quit," reacted senior Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy on the resignation of Mr Trivedi. Mamata Banerjee has been losing her party members since her close aide Suvendu Adhikari left the party and joined BJP later.

Reacting to the resignation, BJP leader Kailash Vijaywargiya said Mr Trivedi is welcome to join their party. “Not just Dinesh Trivedi ji, whoever wants to do honest work, cannot stay in Trinamool Congress. If he wants to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, we will welcome him,” said Mr Vijayvargiya, the national general secretary of BJP.